A lack of research surrounding the contextual factors that either facilitate or impede the progress of developing learning capabilities in organizations suggests that researchers have yet to examine such issues. Indeed, despite a plethora of information on the trust, politics, and learning constructs, researchers have yet to explore these variables in conjunction with one another. While literature regarding organizational learning has grown substantially over the last decade, studies continue to investigate a common set of established factors that support the development of this practise. This study will explore the complex relationships between trust, politics, and learning, as well as the influence on building employee commitment and reducing turnover intentions. Results from the study provide the basis for the development of an integrative framework that illustrates how contextual factors influence organizational learning capability and in turn, the effects that developing learning capability can have on other organizational processes.

Contemporary South African higher education institutions have undergone many drastic changes in recent years with regard to the demographic composition of students and organisational structures. Huge demands in terms of transformation have been placed on these institutions while they have simultaneously been transforming from former Technikons to Universities of Technology. This causes staff to be faced with major changes which affect all aspects of the institution. The objective of this research was to investigate whether role overload, job satisfaction and locus of control could be used to predict turnover intention of employees in a higher education institution. Further objectives included empirically determining whether locus of control had a mediating effect between role overload, job satisfaction and turnover intention. A cross-sectional survey design was used and an availability sample was taken from a South African higher education institution («=210). Five measuring instruments were administered as part of a larger questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the data and a series of regressions was used to test for the hypothesised mediating effect. The reliability coefficients obtained for the scales indicated that the Cronbach Alpha coefficients for qualitative role overload, job satisfaction and turnover intention were acceptable; however, those for quantitative role overload and locus of control were below the recommended cut-off mark. The results showed that there was a strong relationship between the dimensions of overload, indicating that the feeling of having too much to do in the time available is accompanied by the feeling that individuals do not have the skills to complete their required tasks. Furthermore, it was found that if employees feel that they have too much to do and that they do not possess the skills to complete tasks, they will be dissatisfied with their jobs. Both quantitative and qualitative role overload contributed to the participant's thoughts of leaving the institution and it was concluded that a satisfied employee is less likely to think of leaving the organisation. Locus of control had minimal relationships with quantitative and qualitative role overload, as well as with turnover intention. Locus of control was, however, found to be related to job satisfaction. Locus of control was found to be a poor predictor of turnover intention and did not mediate the relationship between role overload and job satisfaction on the one hand, and turnover intention on the other. It was concluded that job satisfaction was the strongest predictor of turnover intention. By way of conclusion, recommendations were made both for the organisation and for future research. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

With recognition of turnover as a financial issue increasing, companies are searching for strategies to confront the problem in ways that generate a good return on investment. Successfully managing turnover is a matter of understanding its costs, causes and cures. In service–oriented industries such as banking, people are considered among the most important assets of a firm. Forward–thinking banks are looking for ways to leverage people, along with processes and technology, to achieve their objectives. Employee expectations are changing, too, forcing organisations to place a greater emphasis on talent management strategies and practices. Employees rarely quit on the spot. Generally, an employee becomes dissatisfied and stays disengaged for quite a while before leaving. However, from the moment of disengagement, most employees are no longer as dedicated or productive as they once were. Nearly all the real reasons why employees quit, fall into four basic categories of human needs: the need for trust, the need for hope, the need to feel competent, and the need to feel valued and trustworthy (Branham, 2005). Thirteen possible reasons for resignations were identified within the banking sector, namely: desire to take on a new challenge, bad relationship with management, bad relationship with colleagues, lack of opportunity for advancement, lack of appreciation (perception of recognition), better compensation and benefits elsewhere, long working hours, lack of control over work or working environment, travelling distance to work, personal satiation at home, lack of training and support to reach potential, the department is conducive to black advancement, the bank embraces diversity for all. Most of the employees that resigned voluntary did so because of lack of opportunity for advancement, a desire to take on a new challenge and a lack of appreciation. The statistical analysis revealed that amongst position title, there is a statistical significance for the bank embraces diversity for all as a reason for resignation and that the effect between junior managers and team leaders has a large effect. Analysis by gender differences shows that there is a statistical significance for personal situation at home as a reason for resignation and that females feels stronger about this than males. When looked at the difference between ethnic group, there are two reasons that are statistical significant namely, better compensation elsewhere and long working hours. Africans, coloureds and white‘s size effect is large, meaning that Africans and coloureds feel stronger about leaving for better compensation elseware than whites. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.

The goal of this paper is to outline the issue of organizational voluntary turnover in today's society as not only a financial problem but also an overarching issue that impacts departments across the entire organization. The most effective way to solve this problem is to cultivate a core set of values and beliefs that the organization will truly entrench into its practices and habits. Once this is accomplished, an organization can conduct a unique interview process that carefully and intentionally selects employees based on values congruence person-organization fit, which studies show will result in higher job satisfaction and organizational commitment, leading to increased retention.

Försvarsmakten har nyligen ersatt värnplikten med ett personalförsörjningssystem där gruppbefäl och soldater anställs på samma villkor som på den civila arbetsmarknaden. En oväntad konsekvens av detta är en oönskat hög personalomsättning inom denna anställningskategori. Syftet med denna studie var att kartlägga faktorer som bidrar till intentionen att stanna kvar i eller lämna sin anställning hos kategorin gruppbefäl och soldater i Försvarsmakten. Ett konceptuellt ramverk utvecklades med grunden i den klassiska tvåfaktormodellen för arbetstillfredsställelse av Frederick Herzberg kombinerat med ett perspektiv på personalomsättning baserat på intentioner hos de anställda. Undersökningen har gjorts i form av en casestudie med kvalitativ, intervjubaserad ansats vid en enhet på Livgardet i Stockholm. Resultatet är ett antal olika faktorer som bidrar till de anställdas intentioner att stanna, motivationsfaktorer, och ett antal olika faktorer som bidrar till de anställdas intentioner att lämna sin anställning, hygienfaktorer. Motivationsfaktorerna som identifierades var: personlig utveckling, engagemang från chefer, erkännande & feedback, arbetsuppgifter samt gemenskap. Hygienfaktorerna var: ledarskap (inkluderat värnpliktstänk och kommunikation), arbetsgivarrollen, planering & ovisshet, arbetsmiljö samt övriga faktorer. Dessa faktorer stämde överlag överens med det konceptuella ramverket och tidigare studier, samt gav en fördjupad bild av fenomenet. / The Swedish Armed Forces have recently introduced an organisational change which entailed that squad leaders and soldiers are employed under the same contractual conditions that exist in the civilian job market. An unexpected consequence of this change has been an undesirable level of employee turnover within this occupational category, largely due to employees choosing to terminate their employment before the fulfilment of their contracted time. Therefore, the aim of this exploratory study was to uncover and map out factors that contribute to employees intentions to leave or to continue in their employment as squad leaders and soldiers within the Swedish Armed Forces. A conceptual framework was developed based on the classic two-factor model for job satisfaction presented by Frederick Herzberg combined with an intention-based perspective on the phenomenon employee turnover. The study utilised a qualitative, interview-based approach for a case study of a unit within the Lifeguard Regiment based in Stockholm, Sweden. The study yielded a set of factors that are indicated as contributing to the employees’ intentions to stay, herein termed motivational factors, and a different set of factors that are suggested to contribute to the employees’ intentions to leave, herein termed hygiene factors. The set of motivational factors were identified as personal development, manager engagement, acknowledgement & feedback, work tasks, and community & camaraderie. The set of hygiene factors were identified as leadership (including subcategories conscription attitude and communication), the employer role, planning & uncertainty, work environment, and other factors. Overall the results were consistent with previous findings, and also offered a more in-depth view of the phenomenon.

Lycopene is a potent carotenoid antioxidant shown to decrease the risk of chronic diseases associated with oxidative stress and has recently begun to be studied in relation to osteoporosis. However, studies specifically associating intervention with lycopene and a decreased risk for osteoporosis have not yet been conducted, and the mechanisms by which lycopene affects bone have yet to be elucidated. The purpose of this thesis was to explore the hypotheses that supplementation with lycopene would increase antioxidant capacity while decreasing oxidative stress parameters; subsequently decreasing bone turnover markers, and thus the risk of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women. Specifically, experiments were designed to determine whether lycopene acts in its antioxidant capacity to improve bone health, and to delineate the mechanisms of these effects. These hypotheses were investigated through a cross-sectional study, a randomized controlled clinical study, and in vitro studies on human osteoblast cells. The results presented in this thesis demonstrate that intervention with the potent antioxidant lycopene significantly increased concentrations of the 5-cis isomer and resulted in significantly decreased oxidative stress parameters in postmenopausal women. This decrease in oxidative stress parameters resulted in significantly decreased concentrations of the bone resorption marker crosslinked N-telopeptides of type I collagen (NTx). The typical diet of participants included a relatively low intake of lycopene, and the corresponding serum lycopene concentrations were not as effective in decreasing biomarkers of oxidative stress and bone resorption as those obtained from supplementation with lycopene to increase 5-cis serum lycopene. Studies on the paraoxonase enzyme suggest that lycopene is most effective in quenching oxidative stress to decrease bone turnover markers when the internal antioxidant defenses are insufficient or decremented. Mechanisms demonstrated by the in vitro findings suggest that cis lycopene is capable of both preventing and repairing the damaging effects of oxidative stress in osteoblasts. Overall, this thesis provides evidence that lycopene acts through its antioxidant capacity to decrease oxidative stress parameters and bone turnover markers, and may, therefore, reduce the risk for osteoporosis. Based on these findings, the consumption of lycopene by women to improve overall bone health should be considered.

We approached a multinational manufacturing company that wants to reduce its employee turnover among white collars workers. Thailand's current labour shortage requires an ability to retain employees and a quantitative survey is conducted to measure the perceived job satisfaction. Job Satisfaction is a key component in strive for employee retention. The study identifies and analyzes organizational reasons that contribute to job satisfaction and that can contribute to increased employee retention. By investigating perceived job satisfaction amongst white collar worker, aims the study to find factors that are central to employee retention and how the most central factors can be strengthen and developed by the organization. The study creates an understanding of the benefits of employee retention strategies and the results may support the organization in the development of these. The conclusion is that organizational effort within work design, leadership, social support; development, compensation & benefits, and work-life balance are essential for employee retention. The study indicates that employees‘ annual development, competitiveness within compensation & benefits and a leader that lives up to the employee's expectations have an influence on the perceived job satisfaction. A continuous effort to increase job satisfaction reduces employee desire of movement. The pros of staying and the risks of leaving the organization increases and the result is an increased opportunity for employee retention / Vi kom i kontakt med ett multinationellt tillverkningsföretag som vill minska sin personalomsättning bland tjänstemän. Thailands rådande arbetskraftbrist ställer krav på en god förmåga att behålla personal och en kvantitativ undersökning genomförs för att mäta den upplevda arbetstillfredsställelsen. Arbetstillfredsställelse ses i tidigare studier som en nyckelkomponent för arbetet med personalbehållning, och vår studie fortsätter i samma riktning. Syftet är att finna och analysera organisatoriska grunder i arbetstillfredsställelse som kan bidra till ökad personalbehållning. Genom att undersöka tjänstemännens upplevda arbetstillfredsställelse kan vi besvara vilka faktorer som är centrala för personalbehållning och hur de mest centrala faktorerna kan stärkas och utvecklas av organisationen. Resultatet ökar förståelsen av fördelarna med personalbehållningsstrategier och kan stödja organisationen i utvecklingen av dessa. Slutsatsen är att organisationens arbete med Arbetsdesign, Ledarskap, Socialt stöd, Utveckling, Kompensation &Förmåner samt Balansen mellan privat- och arbetslivs är centrala för deras personalbehållning. Studien indikerar även att årlig utveckling hos de anställda, konkurrenskraftiga kompensationer & förmåner och en ledare som lever upp till de anställdas förväntningar har en stark inverkan på arbetstillfredsställelsen. Ett kontinuerligt arbete för ökad arbetstillfredsställelse minskar de anställdas önskan om att byta arbete. Fördelarna med att stanna kvar samt riskerna med att lämna organisationen ökar och resultatet blir en förbättrad möjlighet till personalbehållning

Employee turnover is a fairly common phenomenon across organizations throughout the globe, which creates both direct and indirect costs to companies (Lambert et al., 2012). Though numerous authors have investigated the problem, only a small number have studied the Canadian labour market. Furthermore, few have examined how various hiring or screening tests during the hiring process affect worker attrition. The thesis aims to complement existing research about employee voluntary turnover (vs. involuntary turnover) and retention by further investigating some of the root causes and potential solutions from a Canadian perspective. Using longitudinal data from the Workplace and Employee Survey (WES) supplied by Statistics Canada through an 8-year period, it explores 5 hypotheses relating to the initial hiring process (ten screening tests), the gender and marital status of employees, compensation, and employees’ seniority in the company. The survey datasets are based on respondents of, on average, 6,268 companies and 20,387 corresponding workers from 1999 to 2006. Logit and probit regression models are employed for the empirical tests. The results are surprising, and seem to differ from most studies in other countries. In Canada, it appears wage has no effect on workers’ turnover at all, employee engagement programs negatively affect workers’ decisions to stay, women are more likely to quit than men are, married employees are no more likely to quit than anyone else, children seem to have no impact on employee attrition, and workers with lower status in the company are more likely to stay. The concluding chapter discusses implications of these findings and how they might help Canadian organizations deal with employee voluntary turnover.

This research investigated the relationships between involvement-oriented human resource practices and work outcomes, mediated by high involvement work processes. The goal was to use an involvement framework - comprised of the elements of power, information, rewards, knowledge, and a fifth element developed for this thesis, integration - to select human resource practices that impact on work outcomes, and to develop an understanding of intervening involvement processes. Data was collected from 200 work groups in a public sector organization of 4,300 employees, engaged in large infrastructure projects, including bridge and road construction and maintenance. Group-levels of human resource practice implementation were collected through surveying a sample of employees from each work group. Data on work outcomes and high involvement work processes were collected three months later through an organizational survey of all 4,300 employees. This process was repeated 12 months later to identify the unique effects of human resource practices and investigate causal relationships and lagged effects. Involvement-oriented human resource practices were found to impact significantly on work outcomes. High involvement work processes explained significant variance in outcomes and mediated the relationship between HR practices and outcomes. Longitudinal analyses supported the existence of lagged effects of involvement-oriented human resource practices on high involvement work processes, and high involvement work processes on work outcomes. The research supports the utility of an involvement framework for practice selection and for explaining mediating processes on work outcomes.

The public image of nurses has been of great concern to the nursing profession. This image views nursing as a female occupation with nurses having little power over their practice. Researchers claim that the stereotypical public image of nursing could constrain nursing practice. For instance, nursing skills may be under- utilised and the health care environment may not adequately reward nurses for their performance. There has also been a concern that the constraints arising from the stereotypical public image of nursing may adversely affect nurses’ work behaviour. Based on the Person-Environment-Occupation Model of Occupational Performance, the thesis examined how the public image of nurses could impact on nursing practice. The thesis also explored the person-environment (mis)fit in nursing, which is characterised as (in)congruence between nurses’ professional orientation (i.e., nurses’ self-image, role expectations and work values) and their actual practice (i.e., nurses’ perception of the image of nurses held by the public, and nurses’ perceptions of their actual roles and the rewards available to them in practice). In addition, the thesis investigated the factors that could moderate nurses’ perception of the person-environment fit, and how this fit could impact on their job performance and turnover intention. (For complete abstract open document)